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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

With reference to my recent posts of our trip to California, even though I take photos of most of our meals, I decided not to post them but upon reading the recent comments I am flattered that you actually missed "my food porn" photos. It all started on Sunday morning whilst on our flight south

(Westjet snack)

On short haul flights you are lucky to get anything but we did managed to get a soda and package of cookies, courtesy of WestJet

When we were in Santa Cruz we had lunch on the pier at East Beach

it was a warm day so we opted for outside seating on the deck

I ordered the seafood casserole, it was very tasty and well presented

Mrs Skoot had the seafood salad, mainly shrimps, crab and scallops. I managed to sample some as she left some for me

Our friend had the grilled chicken salad

It was a very pleasant experience and I think I would come back again

At Alice's Restaurant I was busy taking photos and looking at all the exotic cars across the street so forgot to snap a photo of our meal until it was nearly too late. Here are the last remnants of our Burrito and Reuben Sandwich. We sort of shared the two

We decided to take a road trip to Lake Tahoe and on our way we stopped in Vacaville for breakfast. We like to frequent local places and ended up at the Heritage House Cafe. Inside it was like you stepped back into the 50's. Nothing has changed, nor been updated. Even the locals seemed transported back in time. I will have more to say on a future post.

the lady cook made the most exquisite, tender, melt in your mouth pancakes to die for. You just have to try them. (Two thumbs up kind of breakfast)

I am stuck in my routine ways and order the standard bacon & eggs breakfast

and it came with special layered toast

While we were visiting our friend in Saratoga, CA we never had a home cooked meal. Breakfasts were just an assortment of bakery sweets and fruit which we picked ourself from the Pomello and Orange trees

Back home in BC we don't have the luxury of vine ripened fruit so we had to enjoy this while we could

In Stinson Beach we ate at the Breakers

and settled for another Burrito and Quesadilla lunch

complimented with a glass of iced lemonade

We find that when we travel we try to avoid the major cities but as we had to travel over the Golden Gate Bridge we stopped at the usual tourist spots like Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf & a quick tour through Chinatown down Grant Avenue. While down in this tourist area we looked at all the trinkets and dust catchers and my eye noticed these

If I didn't have to endure endless winters of snow and ice, that would be me year round . It was time for a snack so we checked out the eateries on the dock. Not many locals down here, just people from all over the country trying to get a taste of SFO and enjoying their vacation somewhere warm, just like us. They were eating seafood of all types, but I must say that they did not look at all appetizing being mostly deep fried and all that. Also the shrimp cocktails looked tired and dried up in their display cases. It was hard to plunk down our hard earned $$ for this stuff, after all we are from Vancouver, another seaport with better offerings. Eventually we had to have something to tide us over for our late scheduled dinner down in Saratoga 50 miles to the south.

Nothing fancy, crab chowder and fish & chips, but these fish and chips looked better than the others which looked like flat freezer filets. At least we can say we ate something at Fisherman's Wharf

soon we headed back to San Jose for a custom prepared gourmet Hamburger from THE COUNTER. It is a very popular place with the younger crowd and even though it was nearly 10pm it was very busy. You fill out a questionaire of what you want and they make it for you. This is just a sampling of our meals and I hope I haven't bored you too much with this food porn

Monday, June 27, 2011

No trip to this area would be complete without having a meal at this iconic eatery which is a magnet for enthusiasts of all kinds . From our base in Saratoga we decide to have a teany snack to tide us over until we get there for a late brunch. I wanted to take Skyline Drive which I had heard so much about.

As we approached the restaurant we noticed these . . . parked across the street

enthusiast cars which I can only drool over as I have a thin wallet. Lamborghini, Mercedes, two lotus' and a Red Ferrari

I find it frustrating to look at unaffordable cars and just then a bug eye Sprite pulls in. It looked like it was restored but the current owner said the previous owner took good care of it and it was original condition

I get my first glimpse of Alice's Restaurant

As it is a weekday there are not many bikes parked in the lot . They even have their own gas pump

It was a very warm day, perhaps in the high 80's and we decided to brave the heat and sit on the deck

they have a nice menu selection and I decide to have something Mexican

The hamburgers look good but I can have a hamburger back home. I need to try something different

" You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant "

(Interior: Alice's Restaurant)

Getting there is half the fun, either in a sports car or on two wheels, either way you get to experience the challenging roads

Saturday, June 25, 2011

While in Calif we were staying with a friend in the Saratoga area and were pouring over our maps trying to decide where to go when she mentioned Stinson Beach was at the end of a very winding road. It was also the beach that was used in the Bette Midler movie "Beaches" . We had to go

it was one of the windiest roads I have been on

there seemed to be continuous curves and the road was cambered in every direction which makes for riding a two wheeled vehicle very challenging. Many curves were slow to " 10 or 15 MPH " . Luckily we were navigating in our rented car.

this section of highway from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach is actually part of Hwy 101 which travels along the rugged coast, mostly without guard rails on the cliff side . The road is narrower than normal and you have to be careful to watch for oncoming cars in your lane after a tight corner

There are few spots to turn off for photos, but the weather was on our side and the temperatures were just perfect

This scenery is what we imagine it should be and the reason we like to breathe in the beauty of California's rugged coast

We soon find ourselves at the Muir Beach scenic lookout

there is a walkway on the ridge of this hill which goes to a viewing platform. This is the view you see as you look north

We soon find ourselves at Stinson Beach where we decide to have a lunch break

It is a small town who cater to tourists, like ourselves. There are a couple of restaurants and a few fast food self serve eateries.

(the Main street, looking south)

We ate here. You order at the counter, you are given a number and the food is delivered to your table

Here is the front view of the restaurant as viewed through the window of the hippy/artist across the street

While we were at the Muir Beach Lookout we met a local who told us about Bolinas, which is another town just 5 miles north of Stinston Beach. Bolinas is a private community who dislike outsiders. They have removed all of the signs which lead to their town in the hope that you won't find it. This local told us that the state often put up signs directing people to this town and they are quickly removed. While we were heading north we overshot the town by over 10 miles and had to double back but eventually we found it

We were told that Bolinas was originally home to many hippies, though older now

you can tell by the community bulletin board that this indeed an artist's community

The main commercial area is about a block long and this grocery store looks like something out of the 50's

Wharf street leads to the main beach area where there are a few stilt houses built over the water .

Nearly forgot to post a photo of Stinson Beach with its flat sand beach

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Some people may think that NorCal is not so HOT, as in temperature but there are pockets of warm, cool & hot within relatively short distances. The coast is cool due to the steady breezes but just a few miles inland we were at around 85F. I am presently staying in the Saratoga area and tomorrow is forcast to be in the high 90's. We had dinner just a few miles down the road in Cupertino and the Apple logo seems to be on every building.

Today started out in the mid 50's as we made our way down to Santa Cruz.

by the time we got there the sun was working its magic and it was very pleasant T-shirt weather . We like to drive around and get a feel for our surroundings and came across one of the oldest roller coasters in the country

It looked to be an amusement park along the waterfront

Traffic was very busy and there was no place to snap a shot of the pier and as they charged admission for vehicle entry, we passed, and moved on . Our stomaches were crying for food so we stopped at East Bay to have a delightful lunch on the pier. After lunch we headed south and passed through Capitola

This was a busy place with no parking to be found. There have many restaurants here along with stores if shopping is your preference

We started to drive south along the coast

hoping to get scenic vistas, but the mist rolled in

I could hear the seals barking on the rocks below but all you could see was white fog and the sounds of the waves crashing onto the shore

We did get to see some peek-a-boo views of the ocean but mostly nothing. We continued just past Big Sur about 1-1/2 hrs south before we gave up and turned around.

We were getting thirsty and wanted to try some special coffee at a special place, where I was very lucky to be able to meet up with more bloggers.